Portland 2013 for Some Nike Bid'niss

Posted on Monday, April 22, 2013 by Rob

Right after Damn Am Atlanta, we went straight to Portland for some Nike talk where I stayed extra days to wander around the city and state of Portland.

To me, this says "Support tax evasion" rather than "Support local." This is on the cab driver's back seat.

When we got to the Nike offices, this display of all our Anniversary Party posters in the lobby blew us away.

The powerful words they wrote about us are insane. Thank you! There's a typo in that last sentence, though, ha. Everyone gets their "it's" and "its" mixed up.

And there's another typo in the part of their offices they named after us. Lower case "o" on that SPoT. Thank you Nike for the support and working with us to make Tampa Am and Pro so much better over the last few years and next few to come.

Bid'niss Brian is getting ready for his first ever Powerpoint presentation that Chris put together the day before. I proofed it this morning, and Brian saw much of it for the first time while he was giving his presentation. He still looked like a pro. Natural public speaking skills combined with a real passion and belief in what you're doing doesn't need much preparation and planning.

Later that night, we have burgers with switchblades stuck in them. Portland food is super good.

At our hotel, the doors are chalkboards. Of course, I have to go straight to drawing dicks. Papa Smurf is pretty random.

That's enough bid'niss chat for today. We're around the corner from the Nike offices where this local park has the harsh pole jam.

We met Seneca and Andrew at the park. Seneca just moved to Portland from St. Louis a few days ago and already has homie Andrew here. That's how I made friends growing up and moving every two years from having Air Force parents. It's nice to see skateboarding stay the same like that with all the things that have changed over the years.

We ran into Steve Reeves at what appears to be The Hub of Portland. It's a place called Star Bar.

There's always a light rain here.

Our friends from See See Motorcycles that did the COFFEESPoT at Tampa Pro have a shop here in Portland where the build custom bikes and serve up bangin' bean brew. I think they might be rolling 12 sided dice in their spare time.

Thanks for having us and representing SPoT! See you guys back in Tampa in December.

More Portland street lurking. This is where you put your band flyer.

Wandering through neighborhoods now. I hope they found Mickey.

It seems tulips are in every front yard.

Commonwealth Skatepark has a nice mellow bowl in the back.

Cal's Pharmacy was closed when I walked by, but I got a good gander with hands cupped over the eyes and nose against the glass.

The Jupiter hotel is a known for being a party spot. When you check in, you get earplugs and a condom. Quiet hours are from 2am to 9am. I recommend this place.

We left the city to see some Oregon green. I have accepted camo into my life. It works well here.

The views are worth the climbing here.

You should chase waterfalls like this.

This was in the middle of the woods. Was this staged? Crazy how this fell so perfect to make this scary bridge. I skipped it and saved a nuttin'.

I'm not sure what the allure of food trucks is, but when they're around, you have to go for it. Tit's Burritos is looking on point.

Chinese food is a popular one in the trucks. This lady's over it, though.

A random sample of the street attire.

This dude's in the bookstore with six foot tree branch cane and skullet double pony tail. Wow. That beats Austin, Texas for weridness any day.

The Thermals are from Portland and we were lucky enough to see them tonight. I last saw them in Copenhagen with Schaefer when we slept in piss and poop in the bowl at Roskilde. That brings me to another subject. Our friends at Copenhagen Pro broke up with us by text message. Actually, it was email, but still, they fired us. Not sure what they didn't like about Skatepark of Tampa helping them run it over there. I'll miss it. Not a problem, though. We're going to create another Tampa Pro of Europe out of thin air just like we did the last one.

I believe that's the rock that Chester Copperpot built into his legend key thing. I stayed an extra day to go to the beach where they filmed The Goonies. I love watching moms take iPad vacation photos. I've seen it go on around the world.

I wonder if "brown starfish" is an actual species created by an immature biologist.

There must be a clinical term for the burning desire to trample and destroy any sand castles you come across on a public beach. Brittany and I are diagnosed with this condition, but we held back and let this one live on. What a wide variety of experiences to be had all with pretty short driving distances from Portland. We'll be back soon for sure.

Rob's Cell Phone Edit

Of course I've got a cell phone edit to go with it. Listen to I Go Alone on The Thermals' new album while you watch my cell phone edit from Portland once again consisting of 100% Vine videos.

by Rob on Saturday, June 01, 2013

The skaters and heats for the Semi-Finals, including details on the format and times.

by Rob on Friday, May 10, 2013

I've spent the last two days at this conference about all the bid'niss stuff that goes on behind the scenes in the sketchy skateboard industry. I can't believe how lucky I am to be around all this stuff as an aging skateboarder. I'm nerding out and fanning out left and right.

by Rob on Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Clem, Schaefer, and my fellow Innetech inventory slangster Justin Ryan were with me in Portland last week for some meetings with our friends at Nike to go over all kinds of things. Here are a few photos and some video.